St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-25
Five Months Required to Mas
ter Stenography and
Typewriting.
Women Make the Most Sue
eessful Operators, Because
of Nimble Fingers.
One Of the Profession Says a
Proficient Operator Can
Earn 1925 Per Month.

every branch OF business are IOr the
most part intelligent, active, bright
young ladies. Of these machines, a
majority if not all used in this city are
of the Remington pattern, which is con-
sidered by experts the most complete in
all details for the purpose for which it
was constructed.
A perfect type writer will produce a
page which, if there are no mistakes by
the operator, will look exactly as though
it had been printed, the only apparent
difference being i'll the alignment of the
letters. This is unavoidable in the Or
binary machines, because the long, Slen-
attached are continually becoming bent
and this causes a displacement of the
letters. To Obyiate this, there is new
device partially developed, in which the
types are arranged upon disk, which
whirlS whenever key is struck and
points with great accuracy. Another
improvement desirable in writing ma
chimes is mole perfect spacing between
the letters, for in those now used such
letters as m and w occupy the same
space as the letter i, and this is another
reason why page OF type writer copy
differs from printed page. 1t is also
wished to dispense with the present sys-
tenn of ribbons for mixing the type, and
to print to some other device made of a
substance soft enough to mold into type
which shall afterward harden sutfi-
GENTLY to stand the Gathering and bang
are often subjected. One of the most
interesting sights in ST. Paul can be
witnessed daily in the school of short
hand and typewriting over which Mrs.
Anna G. Drew preSideS. While out on
hunt for news few days agoa GLOBE
representative assembled the stairway
leading up to Mrs. Drew's college, and
the first thing that greeted his eyes was
a bevy of charming young ladies en-
gagged in coming a bundle of manu-
script and transcribing it's contents
upon one of the Remington machines or
type-writers. A pleaSant-loOking lady
wearing a tailOr-made costume of dark
green velvet, and resembling, some
what, Miss Rose Cleveland, the presi-
dents sister, was engaged in the task
of instructing the young ladies and
pointing out some discrepancies in their
reports. This. it subsequently trans
PRED, was Mrs. Drew, and from her the
GLOBE representative elected a great
deal of information about the popular
ity of the typewriter among business
men, and especially when the operator
understood shorthand as well. sit is
my theory" said Mrs. Drew, that both
branches of this profession, for it is as
much of profession as anything else.
should go together, and consequently it
is very rarely that pupil is received
for instruction on the typewriter alone.
But few years ago it was rare
thing to find typewriter in counting
house or railroad office, whereas to-day
no business man considers himself
fully equipped for his profession unless
he has shorthand writer and operator
on the typewriter at his elbow. And
the reason for this is obvious. Take a
wholesale merchant, for instance, whose
daily mail will aggregate upward of a
hundred letters. To sit down and an
swer this voluminouS correspondence
himself would occupy all his time and
other details of his business must neces-
Sarily be neglected. But with Skillful
stenOgrapher quick work is made of the
correspondence, answers to which are
dictated, say in an hour or two, and
then for the remainder of the day the
amanuensis can devote the time to get
ting out the notes Oh the typewriter
Hence it is almost indispensable that a
good stenographer should also be good
typewriter, and when they have become
proficient in both these branches their
services are always in demand and at
good salaries too. Five months are usu-
ally required to fit an intelligent, capa-
BILE young woman or young man for
this work, and by daily practice and ap-
plicatiOn some are enabled to finish the
prescribed course of study even earlier
and go out into the world and earn a
living. | have in mind now a young
lady who mastered stenography and its
twin sister, as | may designate it, in
side of eight weeks, but of course that
was an exceptional case and the student
was particularly gifted SO far as mental
accomplishments and perceptive facul-
ties were concerned. Still it is not I'M
common. for young people to
fit themselves for practical
business within three months
but making up general average IL
should say about five months would give
more thorough and practical experience.
There is always demand for this class
of workers, and last week | had no less
than eighteen applications from mer-
camille and other professional men for
stenographers and typewriters. When
a student graduates in the branches
there is of course still room for improve
ment, which can only be obtained by
constant practice. When first en-
ployed they readily command from $40
to S75 per month for their services. 1t
is then in their power to make them
selves indispensable to their employers,
and thus be in the line of promotion and
higher salaries. My experience teaches
me that women are more apt to stick to
their work in this respect than men, and
and hence they make the most compe-
tent operators on typewriters. l do not
say this, mind you, because am a
that has been established by daily con-
tact and experience with both sexes.
Besides the typewriter is very ap-
prOpriate machine for ladies, whose
fingers are more flexible than those of
the opposite sex, for their touch is natur-
ally much more delicate, and does not
injure the keys so much as that of a
vigorous muscular masculine. 1t also
affords genteel occupation, and one
that is devoid of publicity and conten-
ton. Notes taken in shorthand and
copied on the typewriter enable the
operator to accomplish fully three times
as much as was formerly done with a
pen, and thus great deal of time
active business man of today
Two hundred and ten young ladies and
gentlemen can daily be seen at Mrs.
Drews climbing the hill of knowledge in
quest of proficiency in stenography and
typewriting and some of the best and
most efficient employees of the business
houses Of st. Paul graduated under her
guidance in the most essential attributes
fol- the battle of life. The longest time
required by any pupil to become per-
fectly able to take notes from dictatiOn
and afterwards transcribe them cor
rectly spelled. capitalized and punctua-
ted, was six months, and this was the
only case out of hundreds of pupils.
Legal technicalities are the most trou-
blesome thorns that a stenographer has
to encounter after start is made in life,
but eventually. practice makes perfect